Chiropractic: More Than Adjusting the Spine
By: Dr. Adrian Granite
In today’s healthcare, there are so many different types of practitioners. There are MDs, DOs, PAs, DCs, DPTs, etc… and within each profession, there are specialists and subspecialists. This tends to become very confusing, and to add to it, practitioners may practice differently within their specialty. This is why when choosing your doctor, you want to learn about them their philosophies. If you are an olympic lifter and your doctor looks down upon that, you may clash and disagree with treatment plans.
The field of chiropractic is one that traditionally just treated the spine. Even today, when I tell someone that I am a chiropractor, they ask me if I, “crack backs.” While chiropractors do treat the spine, they also have the ability to treat the entire body. I try to educate every patient that walks into our office that we take a holistic approach and that we can treat most musculoskeletal issues. We look at how the body is functioning from head to toe and develop a plan on how to get someone better.
Every chiropractor may have their own philosophies on how to get someone better. Different techniques work for different people, which made me want to discuss our approach. Our doctors take a full history which includes work habits, exercise routine, and diet. What people do on a daily basis usually plays a role in their complaint. We then perform an exam which may include orthopedic testing, neurological testing, range of motion, palpation and auscultation, and a functional movement screen. A functional movement screen looks at how people move, which gives us a lot of information about why they may be in pain.
After our exam, everyone gets a treatment plan according to the findings. Treatments may include heat, electrical stimulation, myofascial release techniques, Graston Technique®, , chiropractic adjusting, therapeutic taping, nutritional support, corrective exercises and modifications to daily activities to restore function and prevent further injuries.
Our approach is to educate our patients about why they are in pain. We believe that when someone understands why they are injured, they have a greater ability to recover and prevent it from happening again.
